I love you rude.
Forgive me if I choke on your hypocrisy. You're posts are generally one or two lines long in which you try to annoy or aggrevate. I see nothing positive in what you write.
Note I don't make any judgements about you. That would be dreadfully un-Christian.
Hortlund - in your original post you were fawning over American achievements as if they invented the idea of exploration. That was the issue I had with it. I agree that the achievements of the US over the last 50 years have been remarkable. But at the same time, I admire the Russians for their dogged determination.
The point about Iraq is that you seem to paint the country to be a state filled with little homogeneous Saddam Husseins, all running around cursing the West and burning books. I'm sure you know better than that. I'm sure Iraqis look up at the sky and wonder. They aren't allowed to pursue their ideas or communicate them, but that doesn't mean they are incapable of orginating them. My point isn't that Saddam Hussein would be himself capable of contributing, but the people would given a shot at free will.
The same goes for Afghanistan. Notice I refer to the state, not the regime that used to be there. You seem to be of the opinion that the Taliban represented Afghanistan or their way of thinking. They were a bunch of bandits that stole a whole country for their perverted vision of Islam. They are gone - and I bet your poor Afghani goat herder shares exactly the same curiosity and sense of wonderment as a NASA scientist, when they look up at the sky. I'm sure of that.
Iraqis and Afghanis aren't untermenschen. They aren't animals. They are just unfortunate to be born under despotic regimes.
